Catch Me
by Pikdude
Summary: A dark plot hatches to interrupt the season before it even begins. Vi and Caitlyn suspect their archenemy Jinx- but the ultimate culprit remains a mystery. Vi x Caitlyn, mainly. Rated T for some imagery and language.
1. Chapter One: Good Morning, Cupcake

The Enforcer turned her hands over, looking at her palms. It was strange to her that her hands were still almost as small as they'd been when she'd first dawned the gauntlets to rescue those miners, all those years ago. Her skin was pale from seeing the sun so little- in stark contrast to her shoulders and legs, which were often hovering at near-sunburned levels of tan.

Her hands were not nice hands, Vi decided. Maybe that was why she'd never let anyone see them.

A trumpet sounded outside. Vi reached down and locked into her gauntlets, feeling their familiar, comforting weight settle. She brought her fists together with a mechanical clunk and a soft hiss of steam.

That was fine by her. Better for punching things.

Vi left her simple room in the Human wing of the League dormitories. The rooms were separated by race not for political purposes, but for convenience. Different beings require different rooms, and what was comfortable for one race wasn't for another. There were some exceptions, of course- Shyvana was housed along with Brand and Malphite in a high-heat area more suited to their biologies, but for the most part, members of the same race had the same dorms.

Some champions transformed their rooms into havens. Vi had left hers mostly alone, only installing a bench to maintain her gear and a large Hextech station to charge her gauntlets. Caitlyn's room was filled with guns and the various paraphernalia that went with them, along with filing cabinets for the hundreds of case files she always seemed to bring.

Vi made a mental note to see about upgrading her room. A mirror, some oak floors, and a punching bag would do nicely. She walked along the path that led to the League common areas and entered the dining hall.

Breakfast on the opening day of the new season was always a fun time. Friends caught up, rivalries reignited, and old flames prodigiously avoided each other.

The dining hall naturally divided itself by faction. Vi spotted Ziggs, Heimer, Jayce, and Corki already at a table eating. The Zaun table was nearby. Jinx was polishing her weapons, Zac was... Doing whatever Zac did, and Viktor was using his death laser to toast bread for Sion, who was visiting the Zaun table from the Noxus table. Zaun and Noxus were staunch allies- unlike Piltover, which had no real allies to speak of. They were on friendly terms with Demacia, but Demacia would defend almost anyone if they considered the action just. And they'd received no help when Jinx had nearly levelled the city.

Vi scowled at the thought. Jinx caught her eye and stuck out her tongue, then flipped her hair somewhat attractively. Vi snorted and looked away.

"Hey Vi!" Vi turned to see Annie behind her, Tibbers tucked under her arm and a sweet smile on her face.

"Sup, girl on fire?" Vi grinned back, squatting down to hug the Dark Child. Annie was an independent, and had opposed Vi on the Fields of Justice more than once, but they were good friends. Vi's confidence and easy-going nature, combined with her tough as nails appearance and her bright pink hair made her almost like an imaginary friend brought to life for the little girl. "How's the bear?"

"A little hungry," came the answer. "They never have food for Tibbers here. Something about a bloody mess or something."

"I'm sure he'll find a snack on the Fields. Maybe Jinx, eh?" Vi joked, knowing full well Annie was on friendly terms with that violent criminal.

In fact, Vi couldn't think of anyone that Annie wasn't on friendly terms with. She had a way of charming even Champions who didn't have emotions.

Annie giggled.

"Jinx is too skinny. She might give Tibbers tummy troubles. Anyways, I gotta go talk to Amumu before the matches start. Bye-bye!" Vi waved goodbye and watched Annie skip away. She got in line for breakfast and found herself behind another friendly face. She tapped a shoulder with a giant mechanical finger.

Lux turned around and lit up, so to speak.

"Vi!" She threw her arms around her. Vi hugged back, laughing.

"Night-light. How've ya been?" Lux took a supporting role in the field, and a handy throw of her baton had rescued Vi from a sticky situation more than once. A friendship had naturally evolved.

"Well enough, I suppose," Lux returned. "The off-season is kind of lonely."

"Missed the Prodigal Explorer, did you?" Vi asked with a smirk. Lux blushed slightly.

"Him too."

"Still hoping he'll explore your caverns?" Lux gasped and slugged Vi in the shoulder, turning scarlet.

"Vi!" The Enforcer burst out laughing.

"Have you seen him, by the way?" Lux asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Nope. Cait neither." Vi gingerly spooned some scrambled eggs onto her plate.

"Do you think they're... Together?" Lux asked hesitatingly, her expression carefully guarded. She picked at a salad bar, eventually only taking a handful of croutons.

"Together as in physically? Most likely. Together as in together? Not on her life." Vi piled bacon on to her plate. Lux wrinkled her nose at the meats.

"Alright. Its just that they spent so much time together last season, I thought maybe..." Vi laughed.

"No, nothing like that. Ez knows the tunnels better than anyone, and Cait thinks her mystery thief might have used them." They walked side by side away from the food lines. "I don't think Cait can even have feelings for other people. I've never even seen her hug anybody." _Even me._

Lux nodded thoughtfully.

"Thanks, Vi. Good luck today- have they posted the matches yet?" Vi shook her head. "Alright. Hope we're on the same team. See you!"

Lux headed off to the Demacia table and Vi went to Piltover and sat next to her partner, who had materialized in the time Vi hadn't been looking. Ezreal was sitting across from them, tucking into a large plate of pancakes.

"Hey, Ez. Morning, cupcake."

"Greetings, Vi," Ezreal returned cordially. "How have you been?"

"Pretty good. Jinx went on another spree in the off-season. Yourself?"

"Lots of spelunking, caving, mapping. Didn't find any artifacts this time, though- at least, none I'm turning in." Ezreal winked.

"Stop calling me cupcake," Caitlyn muttered. She was picking at a bowl of oatmeal and scrutinizing a case file.

"Sure, cupcake. We have matches today, could you lay off the case for like, a few hours?" Vi said reproachfully, then snatched the file away from her and tucked it inside a gauntlet. Caitlyn grabbed at it, looking annoyed.

"Give me that!"

"Nope." Vi resolutely shook her head and held her partner back with a power gauntlet. "Focus on the matches."

"She's got a point," Ezreal said. Vi nodded to him.

"Crime never rests and neither do I," Caitlyn declared, sitting back with a grumpy look.

"I'm pretty sure I've seen Jinx sleep once or twice," Ezreal pointed out. "Although that might just have been unconsciousness."

A horn sounded, and the League looked up as one.

"Matches in ten," said Caitlyn grimly. "Let's check the matches."

Vi always liked to see the entire League in motion. Humans, Yordles, and creatures with no name all moving as one, chatting and taunting each other. It was a marked difference to the politics and violence on the outside world.

In the briefing area, a tall hooded figure stood next to a desk. As each champion entered, he pointed to them and a paper flew off of the desk to that specific champion. Vi folded up her sheet in a massive gauntlet.

"Oops." Caitlyn delicately caught hers and held it up for Vi to see.

Vi, Caitlyn, Lux, Garen, and Annie. No problems there.

The other team: Ryze, Nocturne, Fizz, Thresh, and...

Jinx.

Vi brought her fists together. The only sound Caitlyn made was a sharp intake of breath. She unslung her rifle, took out a bullet and a hunting knife, and began to carve something into the bullet. Vi craned her neck to see what it was.

"Um... Cait, why are you carving Jinx's name into a bullet?" Vi asked, confused.

"A named bullet always finds its mark." Caitlyn replied, a weird tension in her voice. Cait despised superstitions, and the named bullet was one of the ones they'd always made fun of. Vi shifted uneasily.

"Katarina again!?" Bellowed Karthus from across the room. He slammed his staff on the floor and ulted, only a single errant beam actually hitting anything, striking and instantly killing Teemo.

The room cheered.

They filed into the prep room and took up positions on the summoning stones. There was an expectant buzz as the crowd gathered, a noise that was quickly filtered out by the Rift's systems. A flash of blue light, and they landed in the field. Vi felt her body adjust as the Rift's magical rules settled in.

Vi breathed deeply the fresh air of Summoners Rift. She activated her gauntlets and headed off into the jungle.

Smite and Flash. Pretty standard for jungling. The opening blows of the match went well, with the teams evenly matched. Garen struck the first killing blow against Ryze topside, while the other lanes maintained. Vi saw nothing of Nocturne, an infamous counter-jungler… Which was cause for concern. But Vi felt no doubts as she entered the fray.

Vi loved combat. Her breath came fast and hard, her heart beat rapidly. Energy seemed to rush through her veins. Her gauntlets smashed through minion walls as her Excessive Force ability took sway. She roared a battle cry.

"Vi!" Annie cried out from midlane. She was low on health and mana, fending off the enemy Fizz. Vi sprinted towards her, lunging at Fizz and smashing her fist into his face, sending him flying. He landed on his trident and jumped back towards her, staggering her with a shockwave and stabbing at her with his trident, hitting her. Annie sent a wall of fire roaring over Vi's head, forcing Fizz to back off. He fired his fish at her, sticking it to her.

A pool opened up below Vi and she grunted as she took a hit from Fizz's shark. She charged a gauntlet and punched the shark in the nose, the concussive wave rippling over the ground.

"Get some!" She yelled, then flew towards Fizz and landed an uppercut, slamming him to the ground. Annie finished him off with a fireball and began to recall, high fiving Vi before disappearing.

Vi headed towards the dragon as the rest of her team moved to top lane to respond to an enemy deathball.

"Jinx is still bot!" Yelled Caitlyn. Vi nodded and ran down the river. She crashed into bot lane as everything grew dark- Nocturne's ult.

That was when things went horribly wrong.

The game disconnected. The Hextech systems went offline, and Vi felt the constraints of the system release.

The League Constraints were the only things that kept them alive in the arena. There was now a significant chance of death- and nobody was limited anymore.

Vi emerged into bottom lane, looking around. The game would be back up momentarily and Jinx would be her-

"Hey, fat hands!" A taunting voice called out. She whirled around to see Jinx standing behind her, Fishbones on her shoulder. She fired a rocket that Vi managed to block with a gauntlet, sending her to the ground.

Thresh appeared out of a bush and used chains to bind her to the earth, fixing themselves around her legs and arms. Vi struggled helplessly like a caught insect.

"You have about a minute," he told Jinx. She nodded as he teleported away.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't stupid hat lady's slap happy sidekick," Jinx said, walking around her. She giggled and tossed her weapon aside. "Confused, fat hands? Thought I was going to kill you? No no no- hat lady is the only one who gets that privilege."

She sat down on Vi, straddling her waist and bending to look her in the face. Vi stared into the face of insanity, struggling against the chains. Jinx placed a hand on her cheek, gently caressing her face. Vi revolted at her touch, growling in anger. Jinx's eyes were bright pink, the same shade as Vi's hair, and wide open. Her chest was heaving as she breathed. Her pigtails draped around Vi's head, and her bright blue hair hung over one eye. There was a manic gleam to her gaze- and also a hint of something Vi really didn't want to be there.

"I could do anything to you, you know," Jinx whispered, practically in her ear, her breath hot. Vi opened her mouth to reply- and Jinx pressed her lips against it.

There was a stunned moment of shock before Vi ripped an arm free and tossed Jinx off of her. She stared wildly as Jinx giggled.

"Took you a minute there, fat hands. Did you like it? Ooh, you're breathing so hard. You did, didn't you? Naughty, naughty vixen." Jinx picked up her rocket launcher and fired it up.

"Did you just… Kiss me?" Vi choked out. Jinx grinned.

"Think about it. What if your partner found out about this? What if your friends found out about this?" Slowly, the implications of what she was saying dawned on Vi. If her team found out, she'd be disgraced… and if Caitlyn found out...

"Plus, no matter how you deny it, how you try and forget it- there's a part of you that enjoyed that."

"You piece of shit!" Vi roared. She broke free from her chains and leapt at Jinx, who blasted off into the air. Vi clenched her fists in anger.

Jinx spun and made a heart with her fingers, then blew a kiss to her quarry.

"Get Jinxed!" She whooped, and rocketed away.

Vi had just begun to move when the blue light paralyzed her. A recall. She noticed a dot against the sky that was growing bigger.

"Well, fu-" The rocket hit, Vi was knocked out, and the recall finished.

Summoner's Rift wafted away.

* * *

><p>Vi came to in a bed to the sound of soft music and clinking china. She opened her eyes and groaned. That last rocket had done a number on her; she hurt all over. She sat up slowly and looked around. She was in her own room in the League dorms, her power gauntlets resting in their charging stations and the room in general cleaned up. She looked to her right to see Caitlyn sitting in a chair, rifle leaning against the wall, with her legs crossed, holding a gently steaming teacup.<p>

She raised it meticulously to her lips, took a dignified sip, and set it down on a tiny plate in her lap. Silently, she gestured to the end table, where another cup of tea rested. Vi slowly reached for it.

"I don't like tea," she muttered. Her partner merely smirked and sipped her tea again. Vi shrugged and took a drink, choking when she discovered the tea was hot.

"So," Caitlyn said softly when she recovered. "What happened with Jinx out there?"

What should she tell her? That a teenage criminal had taken her down and used her as a plaything in her twisted games?

"Nothing," Vi lied. Caitlyn's eyes narrowed.

"Nothing?" Vi nodded.

"She ganked me from a bush, got me with a rocket. Nothing to tell." Caitlyn merely raised an eyebrow. An uncomfortable silence passed.

"So… What happened? Why did the game stop?" Vi asked.

Caitlyn sipped her tea.

"Someone has sabotaged the games," she answered calmly. "The season is off."

* * *

><p>The Piltover faction convened in Orianna's room, a majestic affair floored and paneled in dark mahogany. Her room contained no bed- merely a table and assorted chairs, with paintings hung on the walls. The Ball settled into a small pad in a corner and beeped.<p>

Vi respected the clockwork lady, and considered her a friend, but wasn't very close with her. There always seemed to be something off in the way Orianna acted, as if she was trying very hard to be human but not quite making the mark. She sat at the table, motioning to the other chairs- there were exactly enough for the rest of them- and saying, "Please, sit."

They took their seats.

"I'm very sorry I don't have any refreshments," Orianna apologised profusely. "I can call for something if you'd like."

Caitlyn shook her head.

"Thank you, Orianna, but that isn't necessary."

Orianna was insistent.

"A spot of tea, Sheriff?" Caitlyn shook her head.

"C'mon, cupcake," Vi chimed in. "We all know you don't work well without your tea."

Caitlyn shot a look to her partner, who merely crossed her arms and smirked, her gauntlets whirring quietly. She met the gaze of the entire rest of her faction.

She sighed, the perfect noise of exasperation, and waved a hand in consent.

"Fine. Tea and refreshments." Orianna bowed, and left the room. She returned momentarily and ten minutes later, the meeting got underway.

Vi felt a nudge from her left and looked to where Ezreal sat. He subtly passed her a small piece of paper.

_Caitlyn looks much less tense now. Thank you._

She gave him a tiny, almost imperceptible nod. It was comforting to know that others shared her concern for the sheriff. Caitlyn was her partner, and that meant watching out for her, whether she liked it or not.

"So," began Heimerdinger, "What do we know?"

"The system went down approximately fifteen minutes into the first matches," Ezreal put out. "There's no origin point located yet."

"Wait," Vi said suddenly. "Fifteen minutes? That would be-"

"About the same time Nocturne ulted in our match," Cait finished. "Anyone else experience anything similar?"

Shaking of heads all around.

"Then that's gotta be it!" Vi exclaimed, thumping the table with a gauntleted fist, shaking it.

"Vi, my table," Orianna said reproachfully.

"Sorry," Vi apologised.

"Anyways," Corki contributed. "We have a lead. Now we need evidence."

"Evidence, schmevidence," Vi contested. "I say we punch some people."

Ziggs nodded at her.

"I agree. Except with bombs." He looked around. "Big bombs."

"And who do you suggest we punch, Vi?" Ezreal put forward.

"Zaun," she said, as if it should be obvious. "Jinx was in our match."

"Personal vendettas aside, Jinx is a good guess," Jayce argued. "Viktor is on her team and has the know how to do this."

"Without proof, attacking the Zaunites would violate the League's rules." Heimerdinger said with authority. "There must be evidence."

Caitlyn nodded.

"Just so," she said. "There must be an investigation."

"Yeah!" Vi shouted and punched the air. "Investigate! Interrogate! Punch people!"

Caitlyn sighed and covered her face with her palm.

"A real investigation, Vi. Questions, not fists."

"Punch first, ask questions while punching," she responded confidently. Jayce chuckled. Caitlyn sighed again and took a long draught of tea.

"Alright, here's the plan. Jayce, Heimer, Ziggs, go to the League HQ. See if you can find answers in the systems. Corki, Ezreal, Orianna, check the Fields substructure."

Ezreal raised a hand and Caitlyn gestured to him.

"Isn't access to the substructure illegal?" He asked skeptically. Caitlyn hesitated and slowly nodded.

"Yes, it is." Ezreal whooped.

"Awesome!"

"Meet up back here around sundown. Good luck, everyone." Caitlyn gave orders and stood, going to stand by a window. Vi remained seated while the rest of their faction filled out.

"So who am I with?" Vi asked.

"With me, of course." Vi smiled at how_ duh, obvious _Caitlyn's tone was. "We're going to do some old fashioned detective work."

Vi started to get up, but Caitlyn's voice stopped her.

"Vi..." She began, sounding softer than usual, "Why do you always wear your gauntlets? I've known you for years and I don't think I've ever seen you with them off."

Vi thought about it for a long while.

"Remember all those years ago, when I rescued those miners?" She said softly. Caitlyn nodded. "Ever since then, people looked at me like I was some kind of hero, you know? Tough-as-nails sort of thing. But I was a kid then, and I don't know if its from wearing the gauntlets, but..."

Caitlyn heard a hissing sound and turned around to see Vi's gauntlets on the table. She held up her hands, blushing slightly.

"I've still got a kid's hands." Caitlyn walked over and sat down across from her partner. Vi's hands were small and pale white, free from the scars and calluses so many of them developed over the years. Cait reached out and took one of Vi's hands, turning it over and running her fingers over her palm. Vi's breath caught in her chest; it felt like sparks jumped between Cait's fingers and her skin. Vi blushed heavily and looked away.

"You have very soft hands," Caitlyn said quietly. Her normally intense gaze had softened and she was looking at Vi's hand with an expression of something that looked almost like tenderness. If Caitlyn were capable of such an emotion, that was.

She looked up and their eyes met, and Caitlyn seemed to snap back to reality. She let go of Vi's hand and stood up.

"Enough. We have work to do." Vi reached into a pocket, pulling out leather fingerless gloves and putting them on before shoving her hands into her gauntlets and locking in. She'd never been more relieved to feel their weight settle on her.

It was ten minutes later, as they were leaving the building, that Caitlyn broke the silence and murmured "thanks."

Vi understood what she meant. She lagged behind as they walked so that the sheriff wouldn't see the huge smile on her face.

Vi always loved hitting the streets. Something about being down, walking along the ordinary people, and looking out for anything out of place struck well with her. She felt that consistent patrols kept them up to date on everything and assured the people that there was help nearby.

"So," Vi said as they moved through a crowd of visiting humans. "Remind me why there's a whole village attached to the League?"

"Most of these people are refugees, looking for a better life," Caitlyn responded. "Some are just tired of all the fighting on the outside."

They stopped to let a caravan of Yordles pass. The tiny creatures waved hello to all they saw, and most everybody waved back.

"The town was originally here just to provide for the League. But as the League accepted members, disregarding race and politics, it became something more. A place where everyone was equal, where what you looked like and where you came from meant nothing. Wasn't all of this covered in the League introduction when you joined?"

"Definitely didn't sleep through that," Vi said. "Just needed a little reminding."

Caitlyn raised an eyebrow.

"Right. Where do you think we should ask around for clues first?"

"Bars and inns. Bartenders know everything, and I've yet to meet one that couldn't be bribed into telling you."

"Just so," Caitlyn decided. "Just like old times. Good cop-"

"Bad cop," Vi finished with a grin, bumping her gauntlets against each other. They entered the first inn they saw, a small place called The Door Back Home.

"Weird name," Vi commented. "I wonder if-"

"Caitlyn and Vi!" Interrupted a familiar, north-accented voice. Braum shouldered through the crowd and grabbed both of their hands, shaking them vigorously. "My two favourite police members!"

A small head poked up over Braum's shoulder, revealing Annie clinging to his back. She waved to Vi.

"Hey Vi!"

"Caitlyn, accurate as ever, I assume?" Braum said warmly. "And Vi, I have always admired your gloves. We must arm wrestle over a pint one day!"

Vi grinned. Braum was one of her favourite people. Friendly, funny, and at his heart, a good person. There wasn't a bad bone in the man's large body.

"Come, come, where are my manners? We must sit and drink!" He ushered them into a back room and set a table in a whirl of motion. Before long, the table was set with a pitcher of beer, a small pot of tea for Annie, and a cake baked by the man himself.

"Now that we may speak like civilised people, what brings Piltover's Finest to my humble bar?" Braum asked, taking a swig and looking around intently. It was easy to forget that Braum's enormous muscles his a sharp mind.

"We've come for information," Caitlyn answered, pouring a cup of tea for Annie. Braum opened his arms.

"Anything I know I will share. Ask!"

"You've no doubt heard- thank you, Annie, but I've already eaten- of the attack on the League?" Cait began, gently rebuffing the offer of cake from Annie. Vi reached for it and patted Annie on the head gently.

A dark look crossed Braum's face.

"Aye, that," he said heavily. "A shame, that is. What of it?"

"We're looking for who's responsible. Have you heard anything?" Braum shrugged helplessly.

"If I had, I would have reported it," he said.

"What about Jinx?" Annie interjected. "Tibbers and I saw her just the other day around here."

Caitlyn and Vi looked up sharply.

"Jinx?" They said together.

"What about Jinx?" Vi asked. Braum waved a large hand.

"Probably nothing. She's a regular in this area. She hasn't committed any crimes, though."

"It's when Jinx_ doesn't _commit crimes that we worry," Caitlyn muttered. Vi nodded in agreement.

"Anything Jinx is doing is worth investigating," Caitlyn continued.

"Or punching!"

"Right. Or punching. Do you know where to find her?" Caitlyn had a lead now, and leaned forward attentively with a gleam in her eyes. She looked like a predator.

"No. But Annie does." They all looked at the small child.

"I can take you there," Annie put forward cheerfully. "But she doesn't like Katie very much."

"Good point- Jinx probably has it out for Cait," Vi said.

"What about you?" Braum pointed out. "You're her partner. Wouldn't she hate you just as much?"

"Jinx and Vi grew up the same way," Caitlyn interjected. "Jinx isn't likely to respond well to either of us, but I'm willing to bet Vi has the better shot at it. We'll have to split up."

"I don't like it," Vi argued. "Without me there, who's gonna watch your back?"

Braum thumped the table.

"I will help!" He exclaimed.

"That's not necessary, Braum," Caitlyn said politely. "We're trained in this sort of thing-"

"No." Braum was staunch. "Back home, we had a word for men who let their friends go into danger without helping them- a coward. And a coward is one thing I will never be."

He stood up and grabbed his shield from where it hung on a wall.

Caitlyn looked to Vi, who shrugged.

"Sounds good to me." Having somebody to watch her partner's back made Vi feel better. Having it be Braum was just icing on the cake.

"Alright, fine," Caitlyn relented. "Vi and Annie will investigate Jinx. Braum and I will poke around and see what else we can find."

They left Braum's tavern, following Annie. When they got close they split off, and Vi was alone with the Dark Child.

"So, do you hang out much with Jinx?" Vi asked conversationally.

"Not really. Usually she's sleeping when I'm awake. She's asleep now, actually."

"She's nocturnal?" Vi asked, amused.

"No, silly, we're talking about Jinx, not Nocturne. She usually sleeps a good part of the day. I think she was up late last night and crashed- that's what she calls it when you get really sleepy all of a sudden- pretty hard." Annie skipped along, Tibbers tucked in her backpack.

"Party animal, huh?" Vi commented. Annie nodded.

"Kinda. She never has tea parties though." Annie looked very disappointed. "Here we are!"

They'd arrived in front of a dilapidated old warehouse. The metal that made up the structure was green from decades of corrosion. There was no sign of habitation.

"Are you sure?" Vi asked skeptically. Annie nodded cheerily.

"Positive. She closed the doors, though. Can you open them?" Vi stepped forward and grabbed the edge of a door, pulling it open. The fingers of her gauntlets left deep impressions in the metal. They walked inside the warehouse.

Sunlight filtered through from somewhere above, revealing- a lot of empty space. The back quarter of the warehouse was filled with shipping containers. The middle featured a raised dais with a mini-fridge, a sofa, and a table with half eaten food and empty bottles all over it. Clothes lay strewn about that space.

Catching Vi's attention much more was the large workshop area in the front of the warehouse. There were a bunch of metalworking machines, a pneumatic lift, a life size model of a rhinoceros, and drawer upon drawer of every tool Vi could imagine. It was truly impressive.

A yawn caught Vi's attention. She walked quietly towards the living space in the middle of the warehouse. Jinx was passed out on it, her head on an armrest and her arm dangling off the side. Her hair hung in front of her face and swayed as she breathed. Vi walked closer, almost enthralled. Jinx's face, while asleep, contained none of the malice and craziness that defined her waking hours.

Jinx rolled over and yawned, eyes blearily opening. She saw Vi standing over her and blinked, still half asleep.

"Fathands here? Am I fantasizing again...?" Jinx yawned again and registered that she wasn't dreaming. She bolted awake and sat up with a jerk. Her usual evil smile snapped into place.

"Well hey there, Vi-xen! Come for more?" She taunted, tilting her head and making a kissy face.

A look of surprise registered as Jinx found herself flying through the air after Vi delivered an uppercut that sent her flying.

"We'd better get outta here, Tibbers," Annie remarked to her bear. "These guys have some issues to work out."

She skipped out of the warehouse and closed the door behind her.

Vi heaved the sofa off to the side, sending dust flying everywhere as Jinx landed with an oomph some 20 feet away. She struggled to her feet, her blue hair in disarray.

"Ooh, Vi- that really hurt… My feelings."

"You piece of shit," Vi growled. She punched the ground, sending herself rocketing over to Jinx. Her fist slammed into the ground as Jinx rolled off to the side. She laughed.

"Too slow, fathands. Has anybody ever told you you're hot when you're angry?" She said. Vi rushed at her, throwing a left hook that caught Jinx in the ribs and flung her across the room again.

She struggled to her feet and wiped a trickle of blood out from the corner of her mouth.

"Okay, playtime's over, fathands," She purred, doing a backflip and producing her weapons from nowhere. Vi squared off into a fighting stance, her gauntlets whirring as they charged.

"Fishbones missed you!" Jinx sang and fired a rocket. Vi rolled to the side and dodged it, coming up running at her as it exploded somewhere behind her. Jinx pulled out her minigun and started firing, a savage grin on her face. Vi hunkered down and used one of her fists as a shield as the other one rocketed straight at Jinx's face.

The Loose Cannon swapped out for Fishbones again and jumped up, doing a frontflip over Vi as she ran under her, her long pigtails brushing the top of Vi's head.

"Ooh, so close, fat-hands- too bad hat lady isn't here to help you!" Vi leapt at her and she jumped again, landing behind her with a whoop.

"Tauro! Tauro!" She shouted in glee. Vi activated her gauntlets and rocketed towards Jinx, who jumped up in the air. Vi reached up and caught one of her pigtails, tugging on it and spinning before letting go. With a scream of pain, Jinx impacted heavily against a wall, dropping her weapons.

Vi kicked away the rocket launcher and picked up her minigun, bending it in half and tossing it aside. Jinx was sitting where she'd fallen, dazed. Her temple was cut and bleeding.

Vi looked around and found a long bar of metal. She snapped it in half and bent the halves around, then took Jinx's wrists and slammed the metal around them into the wall, trapping her there.

Jinx coughed up blood and looked up at Vi. She spat off to the side.

"Is that all you got, fat-hands? Hat lady would be _soo-_"

Vi smashed her fist into the side of Jinx's face, cutting off her taunt.

"Gimme all you got, stupid-face!"Jinx screamed. Vi roared, slamming her fist into Jinx's stomach and right hooked her again.

Jinx coughed, blood dripping down her mouth onto her chest, and giggled faintly.

"Y-you like that, fat-hands? You like hitting me?" Her voice was weak, yet just as annoying. Vi wound up to hit her again- then saw the look on Jinx's face. She took a step back and her nose wrinkled as she had a thought.

"Are you freaking _enjoying _this?" She asked, disgusted. Jinx merely grinned.

"C'mon, fat-hands, hit me again! You know you wanna!" She was breathing heavily and there was a frenzy in her eye.

"You sick bitch," Vi said, making a face. Jinx smirked.

"I'm the sick one, fat-hands? You kept hitting me. You're enjoying this! Hit me again!"

"Shut up," Vi said, unwilling to face the tiny grain of truth in that sentence. Jinx pouted.

"You're no fun. Remember what happened when _I _had you tied down?"

"Maybe I will hit you again," Vi growled.

"Do it, fat-hands! Hit! Me! Again!" She spread as much as her restraints allowed her to, exposing herself.

Vi turned away and ignored her. She tapped a button on her right gauntlet- activating an ingenious hextech device that contacted Caitlyn.

"Vi. Go." Caitlyn sounded tense.

"I got Jinx," she reported. "Suspect subdued and awaiting interrogation."

"Is that hat lady!?" Jinx yelled. "Hit me again, fat hands! Let her hear it!"

"Excuse me for one moment," Vi calmly stated. She turned and backhanded Jinx across the face, knocking her out. She turned back to the gauntlet.

"Follow my tracker, I've got her locked down."

"Roger." Caitlyn signed off. Vi stretched out her shoulders, swinging her arms and yawning. She sat down on Jinx's sofa and drifted off to sleep.

Jinx's eyes snapped open.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, here we are again, with a brand-new story! <strong>

**This story is unique in that my beta testers are both plentiful and good at their jobs. Before, I only had one or two people to give a quick glance to my works, but now I've got three that I talk to almost daily that know the subject matter well.**

**Anyways, my beta testers really liked it, so I hope you guys will! Leave reviews to let me know how I did!**

**Chapter Two, as well as the read-along guide, are already in production.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**-Pikdude**


	2. Chapter Two: Get Jinxed

"I don't understand why Caitlyn assigned me with this team," Corki grumbled. "What use am I in a cave?'

Ezreal was bent over in the grass, looking with microscopic care for something.

"Relax, Corki," he said. "If the Sentinel can fit in these tunnels, you definitely can."

Orianna cocked her head.

"By my calculations, at your average cruising altitude, you should have two point six three feet leeway," she told him. Corki threw up his arms.

"A whole two feet," he proclaimed.

"Two point six three," Orianna corrected. Corki facepalmed.

"Now, where is- ah, here we are," Ezreal said, finding a small iron ring buried in the grass and pulling on it. A large trapdoor opened up, leading down into unfathomable depths. Ezreal flicked on the lamp on his miner's hat, sending a powerful beam down. The floor of the tunnel lay about six feet down.

Corki dropped right in, his helicopter keeping him afloat. Ezreal jumped in, whooping on the way down and tucking into a roll at the bottom.

Orianna pointed into the hole.

"Protect." The Ball flew down and activated a shield which Orianna stepped on and sank slowly down to the tunnel floor. She hopped down and the Ball resumed its position by her side.

Ezreal reached up and pulled the trapdoor back into place. The tunnel was plunged into darkness.

"Hyah!" A blinding flash of light emanated from the darkness, hitting all three of them and wrapping around them, binding them in place. A light flared into existence on the tip of Lux's baton as she walked towards them.

"Lux?" Ezreal said, surprised. "What in Runeterra are you doing down here?"

"I could ask you three the same question," she responded, looking at them with a critical eye.

"I asked first," Ezreal replied instantly.

Corki sighed.

"These two will be at it all day," he muttered to Orianna.

"Pulse," she replied. Corki blinked.

"What?" She hadn't been talking to him. The Ball emitted a pulse of electricity, zapping Lux and dispelling her bindings.

"Ravage." The Ball flew towards Lux, sparking viciously. Lux threw up a shield for herself and fired a bolt of hard light at the Ball, knocking it off course.

Ezreal and Corki dashed around Lux, disappearing into the tunnel.

"Bye Lux, nice seeing you!" Ezreal shouted.

Lux and Orianna faced each other, the Ball hovering at Orianna's side and light shining brightly from Lux's baton.

"I don't want to have to fight you, Orianna," Lux said warningly.

"I do not look upon a battle with you with favour either."

"What are you guys doing down here?"

"Investigating the attack," Orianna said matter of factly.

"Oh, it's just that?" Lux said, sounding sorry. "I'm sorry then. It's dangerous down here, though- all the little beasties the League usually spends in matches are down here right now. In fact, I think the dragon is-"

She whipped around and threw her baton down the length of the tunnel. It caught Ezreal and Corki, shielding them as fire lit up the tunnel. Lux sprinted down the tunnel, catching her baton as it came back to her, and fired a large ball of light that stuck to the maw of the dragon. Ezreal and Corki scrambled back as Lux detonated her light orb and fired a snare, rooting the dragon in place while she twirled her baton and hit it with hard light missiles.

"DEMACIA!" She shouted, the word thundering down the passageway as she fired an intense laser beam that vaporised the dragon. She fell to a knee, panting and catching her breath, then stood up and looked behind her.

Ezreal was sitting in the dirt, halfway up, staring at her with his jaw hanging open.

Lux knew she had to think fast and do something cool.

She saluted in Demacian fashion. Inwardly, she cursed. Why had she done that? Old training habits, blast it. That was about the most un-cool thing she could have done.

Ezreal didn't seem to care. He was still staring at her, a new measure of respect in his eyes. Orianna caught up with them.

"Ezreal, are you alright?" She asked, looking as concerned as a clockwork lady could. "Your temperature and heart rate are elevated, and you're experiencing a rush of hormones commonly attributed to-"

"I'm fine!" Ezreal yelped, scrambling to his feet. "Fine! Nothing to worry about! Let's get a move on, then?"

He darted down the corridor, his face red. Lux stifled a laugh at him, and turned to Orianna.

"What were you about to say?" she asked innocently. Orianna looked at her, gears clicking.

"I am sorry. You are not allowed access to that information." Corki laughed, a short bark that sounded mocking rather than gleeful.

"Well said, gearhead," he told her. "Well said."

"My name is not gearhead. I am Orianna Reveck, daughter of-"

"I know, I know, it was a joke."

"If that was what you consider a joke, I am glad not to have the capacity for humor."

Lux laughed at their bickering, twirling her baton and running ahead to where Ezreal was, now moving at a much slower pace.

"Oh, hey, umh… Hey," Ezreal said lamely, his normal confidence not yet returned.

"Hello," Lux said cheerfully. "So, investigation, huh?"

Ezreal brightened immediately.

"Yep! Three of us checking the tunnels, the geniuses checking the hextech, and Piltover's Finest themselves hitting the streets," Ezreal said proudly.

"It's good to know Piltover is doing _something_," Lux said. "The League is still in committee over whether there should be an investigation or not."

Ezreal snorted.

"Typical." They continued on in silence for a minute. The sounds of Corki and Orianna, still arguing, echoed down towards them.

"So, umm… Listen," Ez began. "Those were some pretty sweet moves back there, what with lasering the dragon in the face and all that…"

Lux turned her head so Ezreal wouldn't see her smiling.

"It was more of the upper chest, really…"

"Details," Ez said, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. "Anyways… Would you like to… um… accompany me on an expedition sometime?"

Lux's inner mind shrieked with joy. _Play it cool, play it cool._

"That sounds like fun," she answered calmly. _Alright, good job. _

"Excellent," Ez said with a grin. Lux smiled back at him, her hair seeming to radiate light.

"What have we here?" Said a gruff, strong voice. Massive hands closed around the scruff of Lux and Ezreal's necks. "My own flesh-and-blood sister, accompanying this unauthorized hooligan in a restricted area?"

"Hooligan!?" Ezreal exclaimed. "I'll have you know my discoveries are showcased in every major museum in Runeterra, you cro-magnon-"

"Garen!" Lux complained. "Put me down."

Garen chuckled and released her, still holding Ezreal, who was still vividly recounting all his intellectual exploits and insulting Garen's education. The big man ignored him.

"-raised in a barn, you great oaf-"

"Still, this is a serious breach," Garen said gravely. "You know we're the only ones who are supposed to be down here. We have to report them."

"-I'm an honorary PhD, you stinking plebian-"

"No we don't," Lux countered. "We could always say that we needed help clearing the tunnels."

Garen scratched his chin with his free hand.

"I don't know if they'd buy that with both of us down here. Besides, that would be bending the truth. Demacians don't lie."

"-if you said you'd ever even been through primary school you'd be lying-"

Garen shook Ezreal vigorously, a look of mild annoyance on his face.

"I'm trying to have a conversation with my sister. Quiet down." He refocused on Lux. "This is highly irregular."

"They're down here looking for clues," Lux argued. "On orders from Caitlyn."

"Caitlyn is rather just," Garen conceded. "It would be wrong of us to defy justice."

"So we should help them!"

"It would also be wrong of us to disobey our orders. But... We were told to report suspicious activity. I haven't seen any. Have you?"

"Not a thing," Lux responded, catching on. "In fact, I can't think of a single thing worth mentioning."

Garen dropped Ezreal and stood with his arms crossed. The explorer dusted himself off indignantly.

"I'm so focused on guarding this corridor right now," Garen said loudly, "I might not even notice if someone were to slip right past me."

Nothing happened.

"Slip right past me," Garen repeated. Ezreal looked at him with a blank expression.

Lux shoved Ezreal and he caught on, running off into the gloom with his teammates.

Garen shook his head.

"Why do you like him so much?" He complained to his sister.

"I do not!" She protested.

"Do to," he teased. "You _like like_ him."

She punched his massive shoulder.

"Go get stepped on by a dragon," she muttered. Garen chuckled, a deep, hearty sound, and drew his sword.

"Well, back to work, sister dear," he said, lopping the head of of a wolf that suddenly jumped at him.

"Right." She stuck a raptor with a ball of light and detonated it, throwing her baton and shielding Garen.

A ways down the tunnel, the sounds of fighting drifted back. Ezreal paused to listen to it, picturing Lux in the midst of combat.

"Ezreal, are you drooling?" Corki asked. Ezreal shook his head and marched on.

"No!"

Corki chuckled.

"Ezreal and Lux, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-"

"-i-n-g," a voice answered from the shadows behind. Orianna immediately produced a series of intricate, sharpened keys and held them like throwing knives.

"First comes love..." The voice was getting closer.

"Then comes marriage..." A foot, clad in a strange shoe with a bell on it.

"Then comes a baby in a baby carriage!" Shaco finished, emerging into the light, his daggers dripping with fresh blood.

"Demon Jester," Ezreal snarled. "What do you want?"

"Amusement," was his answer. He continued to approach, impassive behind his gruesome mask. "I came down here to hunt the monsters. But to them, aren't we the monsters? Up there, in the sun and 'civilization', they tell me not to kill people. They told me I was a monster. But deep inside... We're all monsters."

Shaco laughed maniacally, raising his daggers, then stumbled as three keys found themselves embedded in his chest.

"Clockwork people," Shaco muttered, pulling them out of his chest with sickening noises. "You're just gears and sparks, with no taste for the finer things in life, like the blue-haired one."

"Jinx!" Ezreal exclaimed.

"Yes, Jinx," Shaco reflected. "Like her, we do. You, on the other hand... Your clock is winding down, Orianna."

"This is not going to be safe," Orianna politely said to her teammates. "I will handle this one. Take what we have found to Caitlyn."

Shaco advanced menacingly. Orianna faced him, her frame shifting subtly.

"Biology isn't that didn't from clockwork, Demon Jester. I know how they tick. I know how to make the ticking stop."

"Tick, tock, tick, tock, the mouse ran up the clock," Shaco started chanting.

"Ravage," she said, and the Ball attacked. Orianna threw one, two, three keys, treating them like knives.

Shaco was barely managing to fend off the Ball and Orianna's own blades. He disappeared in a flash of smoke.

"Protect," Orianna said, and felt Shaco's knife bounce off the back of her shield. She turned, throwing a key and impaling Shaco's knee. Shaco dropped a box at his feet and threw his dagger, poison dripping from the blade. Orianna caught it and snapped it cleanly in two.

"No body to poison," Orianna said calmly. "But you made the Ball angry. Pulse."

Shaco was knocked off his feet by the Ball. His jack-in-the-box popped open, making a loud noise and appearing very scary.

"No fear either. Throw." The Ball flew at Shaco, emitting a large magical pulse that threw Shaco over her head. Orianna threw a key, embedding itself directly between his eyes as he soared through the air. The Demon Jester hit the ground dead.

Orianna bowed graciously and walked away in search of her friends.

* * *

><p>"I'm telling you, there's nothing here," Heimer insisted. "If any traces remained, it would be in the third subsystem."<p>

"Who would attack via the third subsystem?" Jayce exclaimed. "That's ludicrous."

Ziggs sat in a corner, tossing a small bomb up and down. Heimer and Jayce had been at it for ten minutes and showed no sign of stopping.

"Exactly! Nobody would check the third subsystem!"

"Because there's nothing there!"

Ziggs walked over to the main console and pulled off the cover.

"Or maybe they just blew it up," he said. The interior of the main control was a smoking mess. The two inventors ignoring him, Ziggs reached into the panel, pushing his tiny arm in as far as it could go.

Something sharp grabbed onto his arm, and Ziggs yelped. He pulled his arm out and looked at the thing on the end.

"Is that one of Jinx's flame chompers?" Heimer asked, finally taking notice.

"I think so," Ziggs answered through gritted teeth. "It definitely hurts like one."

Heimer walked over to his fellow Yordle and began to tinker with the small device.

"Don't those explode?" Jayce asked.

Heimer and Ziggs looked at him. There was a moment of silence.

"Shit creek without a paddle," Ziggs muttered. Then it exploded and he was unconscious, lying against a wall bleeding.

* * *

><p>"What are we looking for, exactly?" Braum's question drifted across to Caitlyn as she studied a piece of ground closely with her lenses.<p>

"Clues." Her answer was terse and cool.

"And what would these clues be?" He continued.

Caitlyn sighed and stood up.

"I don't know. There aren't any. Vi's alone on our only real lead and I'm wasting time out here in this dump because some little girl said Jinx might talk to Vi but not me, but in all honesty Jinx probably will attack her anyways, and now she has no backup fighting the second most dangerous criminal in Runeterra and it's been years and I still haven't managed to even get a clue on the first most dangerous and what am I doing here, Vi needs me!"

Braum stayed silent through Caitlyn's rant. At the end of it she was breathing heavily with a dangerous look, her trigger finger twitching and a vein pulsing in her forehead.

"So we're going to find Vi?" Braum asked carefully.

Caitlyn sat down, closing her eyes and managing her breathing.

"I don't know. Give me time to think." Braum backed off. He'd never seen the sheriff like this, and it worried him greatly. He made a mental note to talk to Vi when this was all over-maybe the Enforcer would be able to help.

A cold wind passed over them. Caitlyn shivered a tiny bit, then adjusted and ignored it. Braum looked up, suspicious.

"An unseasonable cold..." He muttered.

A cry rent the air and Anivia swept over them, ice trailing in her wake. She was much larger than normal and a figure with a bow rode on her back. There was a roar, and Sejuani's boar leaped over the roof above them. Ashe fired her ult, missing Sejuani but heading straight towards Caitlyn and Braum. Braum picked up his shield and slammed it down, its enchantment flaring and completely absorbing Ashe's arrow.

"I'm having cold flashes," Braum quipped. A pillar of ice erupted in front of them and Trundle leaped on to it, jumping to the roof on the other side.

"Is the entire Freljord out tonight?" Caitlyn asked, forgetting herself for a moment. Braum shrugged.

"I would have been included if-" his eyes widened. "Of course! How could I forget!"

"What?" Caitlyn was on her feet now.

"It's hockey night!" Braum exclaimed.

"But Ashe was shooting at Sejuani," Caitlyn pointed out. "What kind of hockey was that?"

"Just a little bit of pre-game harassment," Braum said cheerily. "You should come, Caitlyn. Take a little break and watch the ice fly!"

Caitlyn snorted.

"Ridiculous. I have to find Vi." Braum tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"We're headed the same way, then. Plus, Vi looks like the type who wouldn't miss hockey." Caitlyn had to agree on that point.

"Fine," she conceded. "But don't expect me to enjoy it."

Freljord hockey was an old tradition that stretched back to the founding days of the League. All the Freljord champions came together, formed into teams, and played the most exciting, brutal game of hockey anybody had ever seen. The people loved it, and the vast majority of champions turned out to see it.

Caitlyn hated it. She'd attended one year, primarily because Vi talked her in to it, but also because she was hunting a suspect who was an enthusiast of the 'sport'. The day ended with Caitlyn arresting the man while Vi cheered for the bloody sport.

On the way, Caitlyn stopped at one of Piltover's stash drops and changed equipment. A long time ago, Caitlyn and Vi had established certain places all across the League city where they kept alternate and replacement equipment. It was going to be a cold night- Anivia would make sure of that. Caitlyn grabbed her parka and cloak and changed out her rifle for an Arctic variant. She carefully stowed away her hat and took a set of goggles. Heimer promised her the goggles would have the same effect as the lenses on her hat; this would be Caitlyn's first time using them. Either way, they were both warmer than her hat and less conspicuous.

She emerged on to the street and drew up her hood. It had already begun to snow, and Caitlyn gathered her cloak around her. It was lined with wolf fur- the same wolves in the jungle within the League. She'd hunted for three days to produce this cloak. She'd gone with Nidalee and Rengar, skilled hunters both, who worked together so fluidly that Caitlyn didn't know anyone else with that level of synergy.

Excepting Vi and herself, of course.

The thought of Vi refocused Caitlyn, and she moved through the crowd, unnoticed by anyone. They were used to looking for a big hat. Remove the hat, remove the sheriff. Or so they thought.

She wasn't often without her hat and she felt almost naked without it. She slipped on her goggles, securing them in place.

Heimer had told her the goggles worked much the same as her hat lenses, only with easier controls. She scanned the crowd, spotting a large figure some ways away. She squinted and the goggles zoomed in, showing the figure, who turned out to be a bear, in astonishing clarity.

A simple widening of the eye and they unfocused, returning to normal sight.

The arena for the Freljord event was a large, open space down near the docks. Anivia was hard at work blasting the ground, freezing it solid, while a bunch of minions carved out lines and erected the nets.

Something in Caitlyn's parka buzzed and she withdrew a small device that looked like a pocketwatch, holding it up to her ear and speaking softly into it.

"Vi. Go." She hid how relieved she was at Vi contacting her with a terse tone.

"I got Jinx," came her familiar voice. "Subject subdued and awaiting interrogation."

"Is that hat lady?!" Jinx's voice penetrated through the background. "Hit me again, fat hands! Let her hear it!"

"Excuse me for one moment," Vi said, tension underlying her voice. Caitlyn heard the sound of Vi's gauntlets charging and a loud thump. "I've got her locked down, follow my tracker."

"Roger." Caitlyn closed the device and stowed it away.

_She caught Jinx. _Something surged inside Caitlyn, replacing her usual zen-like calm with something... Else. It probably wasn't good, but Cait didn't care. Energy surged through her veins.

She found the warehouse swiftly, the roar of the crowd audible from a half mile away. She found the door open by a sliver and walked in.

The warehouse was a wreck of mechanics and crates. On the near wall, Jinx was hanging by her wrists, watching Caitlyn malevolently. Cait heard a snore and looked to the centre of the space, where she saw Vi asleep on a couch.

She walked quietly over to her partner, watching as her chest rise and fell with her breath. The faint Roman numeral VI was permanently etched under her left eye, a constant reminder that Vi had started as a common criminal. Her hair spilled down over her right cheek, a unique shade of pink not seen anywhere else.

There was a certain peace about Vi while she was asleep. Caitlyn had noticed it before- on long stakeouts, or business trips, Vi slept soundly and peacefully, while Caitlyn habitually had trouble getting to sleep and was fitful in hers.

"Be quiet," came a whispering voice from behind, and Caitlyn spun around with her finger on the trigger and her sights square on Jinx's head. Jinx didn't seem to notice. "Don't wake Vi. She needs her beauty sleep."

Jinx sounded strangely... There wasn't a word for it. She wasn't mocking, sarcastic, or vicious. In fact, there were no negative emotions at all in Jinx's voice, and Caitlyn knew she wasn't capable of positive ones.

"Go on," Jinx said softly. "Shoot me. You caught me, fair and square. I know you've got a bullet with my name on it. Shoot me."

The sound of Caitlyn's heart beating was deafening in her ears. Blood roared as it circulated, and Caitlyn felt every bit of her being tingle.

Her finger tightened on the trigger ever so gently.

_Do it._

_You can end this right now._

Vi yawned and turned over in her sleep. Reality came crashing back, and Caitlyn snorted. She worked the bolt on her sniper, ejecting the shell that was loaded.

"In your dreams, Jinx." Jinx sank back, defeated for the moment.

Caitlyn sat, deciding to give Vi an hour before waking her up. She considered studying her case files, then remembered they were back at her room.

She mediated against a wall, closing her eyes and retreating deep inside herself.

* * *

><p>"Break his legs!" Ezreal yelled, watching the Freljord hockey match. Orianna sat next to him, watching the proceedings with interest.<p>

"I thought the expression was 'break a leg'," Orianna said. "And that it doesn't involve the actual breaking of legs."

"Normally, yeah," Ezreal answered. "But I really want them to break Trundle's legs."

"Are you rooting for the other team?" She asked, still slightly confused.

"No. I just really hate that troll." Ezreal sat down.

On the field, the match was turning rough. Trundle was carrying the puck when Anivia summoned a wall of ice in front of him, turning the puck over to Braum, who shouldered through the wall of ice and over Trundle. Ezreal breathed a sigh of disappointment as Trundle got back up, legs unbroken.

Olaf roared and crashed into Braum, sending the puck flying over to Udyr, who assumed the phoenix stance and charged. Anivia flew overhead, sending a spear of ice from the tip of one wing that exploded near Udyr. She followed it up with a large icicle, knocking Udyr aside and sending the puck sliding across the ice.

A frozen hand pushed it along and Lissandra was running it towards the net- but Nunu had other plans, and fired his stun at her, only to touch the puck and be instantly whalloped by Trundle's club, who in turn froze solid as Ashe fired her ultimate.

Gragas joined the fray and the ice sparkled in the light of Champions using their abilities. It was a spectacular sight.

Tryndamere bellowed, flashing red and hitting the puck. It shattered.

"Oops," he said, looking around for something else to use. He spotted Teemo in the front row of the crowd and grabbed him, squeezing him down (magic must have been involved somewhere) into the shape of a puck and tossing him in the air for Anivia to freeze solid.

The crowd cheered.

* * *

><p>"Vi." The Enforcer snapped awake at the sound of her partner's voice, jerking up.<p>

"Oh, hey, cupcake," Vi said, relaxing as she saw there was no emergency.

"I told you not to call me that," Caitlyn muttered. Vi grinned.

"Have I ever listened to you?" Caitlyn conceded the point and they turned to face Jinx.

The loose cannon hung where she was fastened, staring at them with a manic gleam. She was oddly calm- something Cait attributed to her being caught like a rat in a trap.

"Whatcha gonna do now?" Jinx sneered. "Interrogate me? Beat me up some more? Vi can tell you how well that worked the first time."

Caitlyn looked at Vi, who rubbed her neck with a gauntlet shyly.

"There may have been some rough handling in the capture process," She admitted.

"Yeah, rough's the word, fat-hands," Jinx taunted, and switched back to Caitlyn. "So how are you gonna make me talk, hat lady?"

Caitlyn's blood began to boil.

"Vi," she said, and Vi stood at her side. "Please fetch me some more restraints."

Vi returned presently with more bent scrap metal. Caitlyn had her completely restrain Jinx, only leaving enough range of movement to breathe and talk.

"Whatcha gonna do?" Jinx asked again. If anything, she looked even more excited.

"Nothing," Caitlyn said, and walked away.

She meant it. She had Vi fetch her some tea and sat on Jinx's couch, sitting still sipping her tea and reviewing case files.

"This isn't working, stupid!" Jinx taunted. Caitlyn sipped her tea and turned a page.

This lasted for hours, with Jinx doing everything she could to get a rise out of Caitlyn and failing. Vi had excused herself and was patrolling outside so as to deny Jinx that avenue of attack- Jinx might as well have been taunting a stone wall.

Finally, Jinx was on her last legs.

"Don't you want to know what I'm up to?" She asked desperately. Caitlyn turned a page.

"Don't you want to know who C is?" Caitlyn was out of her seat instantly, rifle trained on Jinx. She had an entirely different look about her now.

"Tell me or I'll shoot you right now." Jinx grinned.

"If I'm dead, I can't tell you anything." Caitlyn's teeth ground. "And I know you've been chasing C for years. What's it feel like, to have caught every criminal except one? To have failed and failed and failed?"

Caitlyn was a statue, unfathomable.

"And now you have information on C right in front of your you, and you can't get it out of me-" Caitlyn jabbed two fingers into a spot near Jinx's kidney. The air exploded out of her lungs with a cry of pain.

Vi kicked open the door, charging into the room, thinking something had gone wrong. She saw Jinx still restrained.

"I heard a noise," she said.

Caitlyn reached out and pinched a nerve in Jinx's neck. She began to spasm and scream, real pain in her expression.

"Stop!" Vi yelled, and Caitlyn released Jinx's neck. Jinx gasped for breath. Vi grabbed Caitlyn by the arm and brought her aside.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked quietly. Caitlyn was trembling and her fists were clenched.

"She knows," Caitlyn whispered, her voice tense.

"She's lying." Vi was all for beating the crap out of Jinx, but this wasn't Caitlyn's style and that worried her.

"What if she isn't?" Caitlyn yelled, exploding in anger. "What if she knows!?"

Vi was quiet for a minute.

"Do you remember," she started to ask, very softly, "Our first patrol together?"

"Of course," Caitlyn said, still fuming.

"How we found that informant?"

"What of it?"

"Do you remember what you told me when I wanted to beat it out of him?" Caitlyn stayed silent, knowing full well. "You told me that if we stoop down to their level, we're no better than they are."

Caitlyn sighed and cooled off, her fists slowly unclenching.

"Glad that crisis is over," Jinx put out mockingly. "It's been fun, but I got places to be!"

"What?" Vi and Caitlyn said together, on guard. Jinx took a deep breath and whistled. It echoed around the space, rebounding and eventually fading.

"Okay?" Vi said suspiciously just before the large rhinoceros charged through the wall next to Jinx. The entire wall shuddered and groaned, and Jinx slipped free of her restraints as the wall started to collapse. She did a flip, grabbing her guns from a table and leaped up to the rhino, landing on its back.

She took out a remote and pushed a button. There was a thrum of power, and hidden speakers started playing.

"Oh God," Caitlyn muttered. "It's her song."

"Get Jinxed, ladies," Jinx whooped, and deployed her minigun.

_Come on now, shoot faster_

_Just a little bit of energy yeah_

Jinx let loose a hail of bullets and the two dived for cover. She laughed, singing along with her own song.

_I wanna try something fun right now,_

_I guess some people call it anarchy! _

She turned the rhinoceros around and charged out, smashing through a building.

Caitlyn looked at Vi.

"Go." Vi took off like a shot, throwing herself at the wall and punching clean through it. She charged her gauntlets to max power and followed the path of the rampaging rhino. Jinx was firing rockets, causing more destruction and setting fires. She was laughing and cheering, in full rampage mode. Vi hurtled a destroyed wall, slamming through another one and cursing the speed of Jinx's rhino.

Caitlyn found her way to a rooftop, taking out her sniper rifle. She calibrated it to perfection, then laid her spare bullets out, one by one, on a handkerchief behind her. She lined up on Jinx's arm and pulled the trigger.

The rhino bucked and the shot missed. Caitlyn loaded another bullet, one of only three spares.

Vi was right behind the rhino now. It was huge- bigger than a lot of the houses it was smashing through, for sure. How had Jinx hidden it in the city?

Vi charged a gauntlet and slammed the ground, launching herself in the air. She landed on the back end of the rhino, fighting to keep her balance.

"Isn't this fun, fat-hands!?" Jinx yelled, noticing her. She deployed pow-pow and fired at Vi, who blocked the bullets with her gauntlets as another shot rang out, missing Jinx's head by inches. Another quickly followed, actually passing through the space between Jinx's ear and her hair. Jinx was unfazed and kept shooting at Vi.

Caitlyn picked up her last bullet-the named bullet. She loaded it and took aim.

"Need a lift?" Said a voice behind her, and Corki emerged. Caitlyn stood up and jumped, grabbing hold of the bottom of his gyrocopter.

Vi lunged at Jinx but was stunned by an electric charge. She saw Caitlyn drop from Corki's copter ahead of them onto and abandoned bell tower and pop up with her sniper and a small laser emerging from it. Vi did a backflip off of the rhino as Jinx turned.

Caitlyn squeezed the trigger and the shot rang true, passing through Jinx's foot and hitting the rhino in the head. It's skull was too thick to kill it, but the rhino fell, sliding forward and demolishing the bell tower. Caitlyn desperately leapt off, watching as the ground got closer.

_So this is how it ends._

She closed her eyes and fell.

She heard a yell and felt large hands catch her. She opened her eyes to see Vi, holding her in her gauntlets.

"Caught you," Vi said with a grin. Their eyes locked for a brief moment.

The bell tower crashed into the ground, snapping them out of it. Caitlyn dropped to her feet, slinging her now-useless rifle. Jinx was lying on the ground not too far away, curled up. Caitlyn and Vi approached her, Caitlyn taking out handcuffs.

Jinx suddenly turned and revealed Fishbones, the business end pointed towards them.

"Bye-bye!" Jinx said, blasting off on her rocket. In the air, she curled around to stand on her rocket, surfing on it. She rapidly dwindled into the night.

The snow had stopped falling and the moon was high in the night sky. The crowd from the hockey game would be dispersing, and the aftermath of Jinx would begin.

Caitlyn stretched her back, looking around.

"We've got a lot of work to do," she said. "It's gonna be a long night."

* * *

><p>The reconstruction process took the rest of the night to complete. In any other town, a disaster of this scale would have been staggering- in Piltover, it had been- but here, the entirety of the League's resources came into play. The combined power of the League's mages and the sheer brawn of others was able to completely restore the damages done.<p>

Jinx stood on the roof of the League main building, watching it happen from a distance away.

"Why did you do that?" A voice from the shadows asked.

"It was fun," Jinx said brightly. "Besides, look at all of them, now they have something to do. They should thank me."

"There was a death. The family is crying for justice."

"Happens," Jinx dismissed.

"The League will act."

"No they won't," Jinx answered. "I'm a popular person and Zaun wouldn't stand for it."

"Zaun only tolerates you," the voice argued. "And then, only because you piss off Piltover so much."

"And because I'm good."

"Marginally." The voice sounded amused. "Regardless, watch yourself in the future, lest you endanger all of us."

"Don't be silly," Jinx scoffed as she walked toward the edge of the roof. "Nobody knows you exist."

Jinx fell backwards off the roof. There was the sound of a rocket firing, and Jinx was gone.

The sun rose and the shadows parted, revealing nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>Here's chapter two, about a week after chapter one! I'm making good time. Anyways, my beta readers inform me that this chapter definitely isn't as good as the first one. This chapter and the next chapter are development chapters- that is, chapters whose events will come into importance later in the story. Leave me reviews about what you liked and didn't like- I read each and every one of your reviews, regardless of whether I reply to them or not.<strong>

**Enjoy! **

**-Pikdude**


	3. Chapter Three: Hunter or Hunted

**I normally put these messages at the end of chapters, but there's a little detail I need to cover before you read.**

**What era is League based in?**

**None. League has elements of steampunk, medieval, and renaissance time periods, and does not stick to any one. Thus, I have chosen to include much technology that might not make sense if you're working within the constraints of the ren or steampunk era.**

**The technology needed for our modern contrivances exists in League, but with the abundance of magic and even magic-powered machines (hextech), they aren't necessary. There are still examples though- such as, in this chapter a motorcycle will be referenced to. Modern styles of roads will be referenced to. The lore on the places I'm working with might as well not exist when it comes to physical descriptions, so I've given myself a lot of leeway.**

**As always, I worked very hard on this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it! Leave a review telling me what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong!**

**-Pikdude**

* * *

><p>Vi heaved on a huge chunk of masonry, Garen and Braum to either side of her, and put the last piece of the last building back into place. Vi wiped her forehead of sweat and swayed slightly where she stood. Viktor came up and fired his death laser, cementing the rock into place.<p>

It reminded her of the aftermath when Jinx had first attacked Piltover- rubble strewn around, blackened marks where fires and rockets had hit, etcetera. That had been a dark day, and cleanup had taken at least a month.

Here at the League, it had taken about sixteen hours all said and done. They were all exhausted- just about every champion had pitched in one way or another. Vi sat down on a curb and pulled out a lighter, flicking it on and watching the flame dance. Caitlyn appeared from nowhere and sat down next to her. Vi flicked the lighter closed and put it away.

"You don't smoke," Caitlyn said as a way of inquiring why Vi would need a lighter.

"I used to, a long time ago," Vi answered, thinking back to the days before she'd met the Sheriff. They'd all smoked in her gang; it was seen as a sign of toughness. Vi had thrown the habit when she got out of that. She didn't need tobacco to look tough. She knew she was, and that was usually enough.

Except when her hands were involved. She was rarely if ever seen without her gauntlets on.

"Still do, once or twice a year when something good happens," she finished. Caitlyn nodded thoughtfully.

"I tried a pipe once. I didn't like it very much." Caitlyn handed Vi a bottle of water.

"It's an acquired taste." Vi leaned back and drank some, parched after the hard work of the day. They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.

"You should go get some sleep," Caitlyn told her partner. "You've been up a long time."

Vi snorted.

"Like you haven't? I'm not going to sleep until the bags leave your eyes." Caitlyn blinked.

"Fine." She got up and walked away. Vi chugged the rest of her water and followed, crumpling the bottle in a massive hand and tossing it aside. The Enforcer made sure the Sheriff actually went into her room before heading to her own and dropping almost immediately into sleep.

The sun was setting when Vi woke up. She groaned, knowing it would mess up her rhythm. Still, couldn't be helped. She swung out of bed and noticed her gauntlets were low on charge. She detached them and left them in their charging station, pulling on a pair of fingerless black leather gloves. She stuck her hands in her pockets and walked out of her room.

She checked in Caitlyn's room, using the spare key she carried with her. Cait was actually asleep, tucked up in her bed with case files strewn about. Vi smiled and policed them up, sorting them into nice, neat stacks on Cait's table. One of them stuck out at her- it had her name on it, Vi.

She removed it to find a very early report on her- one the Piltover police had compiled when she was still with her old gang. Fondly, she read of their past exploits that she had forgotten- petty thievery, mostly, with a few minor acts of vandalism in there.

_Vi, the current youngest of the gang, apparently has no name, and instead calls herself Vi, after the roman numeral VI tattooed on her cheek. Not much is known of where she came from- only that she is an orphan. The whereabouts or identity of a sister are unknown._

Wait. A sister? Vi read it again. This was news to her. She searched the rest of the file but found nothing.

Warning bells went off in Vi's head and she remembered something Jinx often said in battles.

'If you think I'm crazy, you should see my sister.' She'd always assumed that somewhere, Jinx's sister was running around causing havoc, but... What if she was Jinx's older sister?

Vi banished the thought. They were nothing alike, and there was no evidence to it. Besides, Jinx wouldn't consider her crazy. Probably.

Vi knew the thought would stay locked away in her mind until she put it to rest. How could she confirm it? Have Jayce run blood samples?

Vi left Caitlyn's room and sent a request for a sample of Jinx's blood from Piltover. They had piles of samples sitting around from when they'd caught her, over and over and over. She'd easily broken out every time.

Jayce wasn't at his lab on League grounds. She made a sample of her own blood and left a request for Jayce to compare them. It wasn't an uncommon procedure in police work, and Jayce would think nothing of it. Hopefully.

Not knowing what to do, Vi stopped by Orianna's room and knocked on the door.

"Please enter," came the voice from within. Vi opened the door and stepped inside. Orianna was sitting at her table, a pot of coffee on it. She poured out a mug and handed it to her. Vi accepted it gratefully.

"Did I wake you?" Vi asked. Orianna cocked her head and Vi remembered who she was talking to. "Sorry, dumb question."

"Do not think about it," Orianna asked. "In fact, thank you for asking me such a... Human question. It's nice to be seen as a person."

Vi's brows furrowed.

"Some people don't?"

"Many," Orianna replied in a sorrowful tone. "Evidently, people are not used to the idea of a thinking machine."

"Wait," Vi objected. "I've never seen anyone be anything but respectful to you, excepting Jinx, of course."

"Oh, they are respectful, to be sure," Orianna said hurriedly. "But they act as if I am only a machine, built for a purpose and a function. I may not have emotions, or at least the capacity to understand them, but I can appreciate them."

Vi thought to all the time she'd spent with Orianna, how she'd observed people to act around her. How often she'd been ignored as others admired something as simple as the sunset with each other, under the assumption that Orianna wouldn't or couldn't care.

"I can see beauty in the world and in people," Orianna continued quietly. "I can see ityour toughness and the beauty of Caitlyn's drive."

Vi looked up at the mention of Caitlyn. She had always admired the same thing in her partner, even though it was that same quality that made her distant at times.

"I'm sorry, Orianna," Vi apologised. "I didn't realise. I'm sorry if I ever slighted you."

"No need. You did not realise you did. After all, I am not human."

"You're more human than many in this League," Vi said truthfully. Orianna looked very happy.

"Thank you."

"Thanks for the coffee," Vi responded lightly. "I'd better get going. Take care, Orianna."

"Do the same yourself." Vi found her way to the roof of the dormitory, watching the night sky and sipping the coffee she'd gotten from Orianna. Her mind went back to the day she'd met Caitlyn.

_A much younger Vi, still only a teenager, sits on a roof, her legs dangling over the edge. Piltover stretches out below her and the moon is high in the sky. The young Vi breathes deeply and exhales, enjoying the crisp air._

_She becomes aware of a figure seated beside her and jumps up, her fists coming up in a fighting stance. The figure stayed seated and sipped from a teacup._

_"Please, sit," the figure asked in a soft, refined voice that carried a hint of an accent. "I brought you a cupcake." _

_The cupcake sat in her hand, very appealing. The young Vi's mouth watered and she warily took the cupcake from the woman, taking a careful bite and then scarfing it down._

_"Are you tired of going hungry?" The woman asked. A cloud moved and the young Vi saw that the woman was only a few years older than she was and was very, very beautiful. The young Vi could only stare at the Sheriff of Piltover._

_"Are you?" The woman asked again, and young Vi snapped out of it. She nodded, a little jittery._

_"Do you want to do good?" Young Vi considered it for a while._

_"Allow me to rephrase that. Do you want to beat people up on the side of the law?" Young Vi stared at her, barely comprehending what the sheriff was saying._

_"Are you giving me a job?" Young Vi asked, speaking for the first time. The woman nodded._

_"I've watched you for a long time. You like to beat people up, but only the bad people. I believe you've got a good heart behind those fists." The sheriff tapped her own heart to emphasise. "I could use someone like you by my side. What do you say?"_

_Young Vi stood on one foot while she thought, tapping her shin with her other foot._

_"Okay," she said. The sheriff stuck out her hand. _

_"My name is Caitlyn."_

_"Vi." They shook hands, Vi careful not to crush her new partner's hand in her gauntlet._

_"But you have to let me work my way," Vi added. Caitlyn smiled._

_"We'll see." _

"You were just as stubborn back then," Caitlyn said, sitting next to Vi in the present. Vi chuckled.

"You were just as bossy." Caitlyn accepted the fact.

"You needed discipline in your life. It's important for every young girl."

"You're not that much older than me," Vi pointed out.

"Yes, but I'm much more mature."

"Point taken." Vi easily admitted that Caitlyn was the more responsible of the two. Vi didn't like feeling responsible. She liked feeling free, in control of her own destiny.

"Remember when you walked into my Yordle trap on the kitchen stabber case?" Vi laughed.

"You baited it with a cupcake, I couldn't help it!"

"The suspect almost got away because of that."

"But I stopped him."

"Yes, after smashing through a wall that was very costly to replace." Vi shrugged.

"Gotta catch the criminals somehow, right? I figure if a wall or two gets in the way, hey, no harm no foul."

"If only the C case was that easy," Caitlyn said softly. She sat up as an idea struck her. "Maybe it is."

"What do you mean?" Vi asked, unsure where her partner was going.

"What if we bait C into a room and you just smash through a wall to get at them? You've never been around when I've chased them before. They don't know what you're capable of."

"You had me at smashing," Vi said with a grin. Caitlyn made a fist.

"C won't escape me this time." She stood up and slinked off, tapping her fingers in a staccato rhythm on her rifle. She seemed jittery.

Something was distinctly off about Cait these days. Come to think of it, it had started about when C showed up.

Vi resolved to find this C person and punch them in the face. She'd do anything if it meant bringing peace to Caitlyn.

_"Caitlyn," her mother called out. "Do you have all your gear?"_

_A 14-year old Caitlyn sighed._

_"Yes, mother," she replied. "I have my hat and gun."_

_Caitlyn's mother stepped into her room, looking at her daughter._

_"Your father got you that rifle for hunting, you know," she said._

_"That's what I'm using it for. Hunting." _

_"You know what I mean," Caitlyn's mother said with a sigh. "Anyways, I made you a new gadget."_

_She handed her daughter an armguard with a small compartment in it._

_"It fires a 90-caliber net. I thought it might help you avoid lethal means." Caitlyn examined the device and attached it to her left arm._

_"Thanks, mother," she said, and hurried out her window into the night. Her mother looked after her, worried about her daughter being out alone._

_A few years later, Caitlyn's parents came to the station to visit their daughter. Vi had only been working there for three months and couldn't have been more than 15 years old, and young-looking at that. Caitlyn's parents stepped into her office, where Vi was sitting, doing boring paperwork at her desk in the corner._

_"She's not here," Vi said, used to people looking for the sheriff. Caitlyn's mother looked at her strangely._

_"And who might you be?"_

_"I'm Vi," she answered. She was met with a blank stare. "The Enforcer? Caitlyn's partner?"_

_"_You're _Caitlyn's new partner?" The mother asked, disbelievingly. This young girl with pink hair and big fists didn't look like much. Vi merely nodded. The father knew what was coming and left the room._

_"You're who's supposed to keep my daughter safe?" The mother asked. Vi blinked in surprise._

_"With all due respect, ma'am, the sheriff takes care of herself."_

_"But you watch her back. You'll be her support in the field?"_

_"Yes, ma'am." Vi hadn't called anyone in the office ma'am until she meet Caitlyn's mother, who scared her._

_"Are you up to it?" The mother looked very critical. The young girl was a little intimidated._

_"Caitlyn thinks I am." The mother searched her eyes, being met with a person who had been through much for how young she was. Satisfied, at least for now, Caitlyn's mother focused on her hands._

_"Are these hextech?" She asked. Vi brightened._

_"Yeah! The originals came off of a mining suit, but I built these myself with stuff Caitlyn got me-"_

_"No way," The mother challenged._

_"Yes, she did. She's very talented." Caitlyn swept into the room, her father trailing behind her. "You should see her workshop."_

_"Show me," the mother said, and Vi led the way down._

Vi looked at her gauntlets. Caitlyn's mother was like a mom to her- had helped her design her gauntlets and was responsible for a lot of Vi's hextech knowledge. Despite that, she'd still harboured doubts about Vi's ability to be a good partner for Caitlyn until she was about 17 and had proven herself many times. Vi owed everything to Caitlyn and her family, a fact that she'd never taken for granted.

Vi looked at the sky, seeing it was midnight, and realised she wasn't going to sleep. She got up, stretched, and headed for the dojo.

Master Yi and Yasuo were in the dojo's arena, dueling with wooden practice swords.

"Greetings, one of large fists," Yi said, stopping the fight for a moment. Vi waved, her gauntlets in place on her hands. "Up late tonight, are we?"

"Aren't we all?" Vi asked wryly, and carried into the next room. She took a sandbag from a supply closet and hung it from the ceiling. She slipped off her outer wear, clad in a white tank top. She adjusted her gauntlets minutely and settled into a fighting stance.

_"Your gauntlets give you power," Caitlyn instructed, walking around the young Vi. "But they take away your speed. Show me how you fight."_

_Vi took a breath and yelled, hitting the sandbag with all her might. It rocked back and she looked at Caitlyn, who motioned for her to continue. Vi continued, fighting the same way she would have on the street._

_"Stop," Caitlyn said after a moment. Vi stood, panting with her gauntlets steaming softly. "You throw everything you've got into your strikes, don't you?"_

_"If I hit hard enough, I won't need to hit again," was her answer. Caitlyn nodded._

_"Alright. We'll base your combat around that idea. What you need to learn is to put in enough force, but not to leave yourself open to a counter. Try to hit faster."_

Vi threw her right forward, slamming it into the bag with a concussive shockwave thanks to her gauntlets. She followed it up with her left then charged, knocking the sandbag high enough for her to carry around past it. She turned and charged again, delivering the uppercut and slam that was characteristic of her ult. The sandbag flew off of its hook. Vi stood looking at it, breathing heavily.

_"Your technique has improved," Caitlyn admired. "Especially in the chase. The way you use your gauntlets to lunge forward at high speed is simply stunning."_

Vi hung another sandbag and squared off again. Caitlyn, having a passing understanding of most combat styles, had handled her training from the start. It had been a rigorous system of exercise and hand to hand combat training, a regiment Vi followed religiously to the day. Vi finished off that sandbag, breaking it once again, then dropped to the floor and launched into her routine.

_It had been devilishly hot that summer, but Caitlyn was a hard taskmaster. She worked Vi until she almost collapsed from exhaustion, doing the exercises alongside her protege to give her no room to complain. It was a harsh but effective system- within a month, Vi was at peak physical condition._

"_Criminals are tough," Caitlyn would always say. "We must be tougher."_

Vi sat up, wiping the sweat from her brow and taking a swig of water from a bottle she'd brought with her as Lux walked in the door, missing her usual armor, clad instead in light, tasteful clothes.

"Hey there," she said cheerily and went about her stretches. Lux was as fit as any of them, but her strength was in flexibility. Vi, a very inflexible person, couldn't even imagine what being able to put your leg behind your head was like- but for Lux, it was easy.

"Hey," Vi returned. She stood and stretched, taking a towel off of a wall and slinging it loosely around her neck. "Is everyone burning the midnight oil?"

"Pretty much," Lux said. "A few people stuck it out for the day to get a full night, but most of us slept as soon as the work stopped."

"What are they doing with Jinx, by the way?" Vi asked.

"Jinx?" Lux repeated, then thought hard. "Uhm… something about a hole in an old quarry or something? Sorry, I don't know exactly."

"As long as she's behind bars," Vi said darkly, steel in her eye. Lux nodded in agreement.

Vi left the dojo, dressing in her normal gear, and struck out in search of Caitlyn. She wasn't in her room, so she checked the other likely place- the firing range.

She found Caitlyn in the middle of the large room, meditating calmly to enter what she called "the zero zone"- that is, zero margin for missing. Vi had seen Caitlyn hit targets up to a thousand yards away with pinpoint accuracy, one after the other.

Caitlyn erupted into motion, flowing into various firing stances and shooting, racking up headshots on the dummies she targeted, blindingly fast. She finished and stood still, nodding to herself as she looked at the targets.

"Missed one," Vi piped up.

"Did not," Caitlyn immediately retorted. "When have I ever missed a shot?"

"You missed Jinx twice the other day."

"That was the rhinoceros's fault."

"So that excuse works for you, and not for me?"

"You crashed that motorcycle and you know it," Caitlyn said. "Blaming rhinos gets you nowhere."

"Except when you do it," Vi pointed out.

"Except when I do it," Caitlyn amended.

"I miss that motorcycle," Vi said wistfully. Caitlyn packed up her rifle and ammunition and started heading out, Vi following.

"So does Heimerdinger. That cycle was his baby."

"It was my baby too," Vi muttered reproachfully.

"Then you shouldn't have crashed it."

"Touche." They walked together back to Caitlyn's room, where Caitlyn pulled out some files and Vi sprawled out on Caitlyn's bed.

"I've already made arrangements for our plan," Caitlyn began, shuffling her files. "A valuable piece of hextech- were you looking at this file?"

Vi looked up.

"I saw my name and was interested. I didn't know I had a sister."

Caitlyn snorted.

"You most likely don't. I remember that particular case officer- any random coincidence was a hunch for him. That's why we put him on desk duty. Good man- terrible detective." She went back to her plan. "Anyways, a very valuable prototype hextech device is on its way here, scheduled to arrive in- two hours. A room has been prepared for it. It was top-of-the-line security installed-"

"If we're trying to bait C out, why would we have security?" Vi asked, sitting up.

"It would look like a trap if we didn't."

"Will there be a cupcake in the room?" Vi asked.

"Of course," Caitlyn said, looking slightly insulted. "C will take it as a personal challenge from me. Anyways, C will disable the security, enter the room, and that's when you smash through the wall and engage the target. I'll have the building locked down by then."

"I heard smash," Vi said.

Caitlyn sighed.

"Just make sure you smash at the right time." Vi nodded and thought of a question.

"What are my rules of engagement?" Vi asked.

Caitlyn looked at her with a dark expression.

"Stop them. Whatever it takes." Vi nodded solemnly.

"For you," she whispered to herself as Caitlyn turned to her work.

_Caitlyn slipped into the alley, trailing a man in a hat and cloak that she knew was the notorious outlaw Twisted Fate. He'd been operating in Piltover along with his partner, Graves, for too long now- she had ammunition and handcuffs. Either way, it ended today._

_Fate disappeared around a corner. Caitlyn waited for a heartbeat and followed- and felt the press of a gun in her back._

_"I'll be takin' this, lil' lady," a voice said, and someone plucked her rifle from her back. Fate stood in front of her, looking smug._

_"Well, if it isn't the sheriff," he said, delighted. "You've been hot on my trail, but now you're caught like a snake in a trap."_

_He leaned against the door of a nearby building, his goons gathering around to jeer at Caitlyn._

_"Now, I wonder how much Piltover will pay for you," he mused out loud. "Or will they even want ya, after this kind of failure?"_

_"Don't sheriffs usually have deputies?" Graves asked from behind Caitlyn. Caitlyn snarled. She'd left Vi at the office, since this case was a little dicey. She regretted that now._

_"Now, in the meantime-" Twisted Fate started to speak, but was interrupted as the door behind him splintered and a massive fist grabbed him around the neck, heaving him aside. Vi charged in through the gap, pink hair flowing and gauntlets humming._

_Vi lunged forward as Caitlyn did a spinning kick, knocking Graves's feet out from under him, and Vi slammed her fist into his chest, Graves hitting the pavement so hard it cracked. Vi faced the goons and settled into a fighting stance, making a come-at-me gesture._

_The first goon charged and Vi hit him with an uppercut, knocking him into the air and grabbing his leg, spinning him around and sending him bowling through his comrades. She held out a hand, blocking a punch, and closed her hands around the offending fist, punching the man in the face._

_The last thug stepped up, his muscles bulging. He flexed and roared in Vi's face- she slammed her fist into his crotch. Caitlyn winced at the sight._

_Vi bodily lifted the thug, holding him over her head. The sun shone, outlining her form, and she threw the goon into a wall._

_Vi looked at Caitlyn and grinned boldly._

_"Miss me, cupcake?"_

_Caitlyn sighed._

_"If I say yes, will you stop calling me cupcake?"_

_Vi's grin widened. _

_"Nope."_

_"Teenagers," Caitlyn muttered. She looked around. "Graves and Fate got away."_

_"But you're safe and sound," Vi countered. "That's what's important, okay?"_

_"Important to whom? I'm not that essential to the city," Caitlyn dismissed. _

_"I wasn't talking about them," Vi said softly. Caitlyn looked at her and nodded._

_"Either way, we have some cleanup work to do. Cuff these ruffians. And Vi?" She added as Vi was cuffing a thug. She looked up at her partner. "Thanks."_

_Vi nodded and hid a smile, going about her job. _

Caitlyn snapped out of her reverie, looking at her table. Everything was planned out. There was nothing left to do.

"You were a pain as a teenager," Caitlyn remarked to her partner, memories fresh in her mind. Vi looked up.

"Was I?" She knew full well that she had been.

"Breaking curfew, leaving messes around the station..." Caitlyn rattled off. Vi stretched out on Caitlyn's bed and propped up her chin on her arms.

"Wasn't that the year I saved your life like, four times?" Vi pointed out.

"Because you disobeyed my orders, yes."

"You wouldn't take me with you on the dangerous cases," Vi argued.

"Because you weren't ready," Caitlyn said with amusement.

"But I was. Remember the time you got caught by Twisted Fate and Graves and I beat both of them and half a dozen goons?" Caitlyn slowly nodded.

"I was just thinking about that. I think it was about then I started bringing you with me at all times."

"You mean when you started trusting me?" Vi poked.

"I trusted you before that," Caitlyn admitted. "I just wanted to protect you. You were still young."

"I'm the Enforcer, Caitlyn," Vi told her. "It's your job to protect the people, and mine to protect you."

Caitlyn raised an eyebrow.

"That's not your job description."

"Not officially." Vi lapsed into her own thoughts as Caitlyn turned back to her table.

"So," Vi brought up. "What's the bait to attract C?"

"Well," Caitlyn began. "You're not going to like this."

* * *

><p>"This is stupid," Vi fumed, looking into the glass case that contained the bait. "I've been working on these forever and they finally get delivered and you use them as bait."<p>

Caitlyn was cross legged on the floor, field stripping and cleaning her rifle on a small tarp.

"Well, we couldn't use my new rifle," Caitlyn responded, dripping fluid into the barrel. "Then C would know it's a trap."

"But C won't know this isn't a trap?" Vi asked, pointing to the case where a brand new, shiny, 34.7% more powerful pair of power fists rested.

"Remember, you've never been around for any C encounters. As far as they know, we're just co workers. C won't expect that we're as close as we are."

The phrase_ as close as we are _echoed in Vi's head for a moment.

"Fine," she groused. "I better get my motorcycle after this."

"Sitting in Heimer's shop," Caitlyn said briskly, snapping her rifle back together and pulling back the bolt. "We're going back for a visit and you'll be able to modify it as you please."

A strange noise escaped Vi and Caitlyn looked up, alarmed. Vi looked like a kid in a candy shop, and Cait realised she had barely held in a shriek of delight.

Vi was not girly in any way. But she had moments, mostly where the prospect of violence or technology, where her inner teenage girl broke free, in spades.

"I can have paint? Decals? Lights? Weapons?" Vi asked, holding her gloves in front of her face like a little girl and speaking very quickly.

Caitlyn laughed at how ridiculous Vi looked. Vi realised herself and blushed, leaning against a wall and rubbing her neck.

"Uh... Sorry," Vi muttered, looking at her feet.

"Don't be. You looked adorable." Caitlyn laughed again, then stood and cradled her rifle. "What's that word Annie uses? Learned it from Yasuo or something?"

"Kawaii," Vi muttered. Caitlyn smiled.

"Kawaii. Yes, I like that. Kawaii Vi."

"Shut up," Vi said, her face scarlet.

"You look like that time I caught you looking at a dress in a store window," Caitlyn said with a laugh. "What were you, fifteen?"

"Sixteen," Vi answered, smiling at the memory in spite of herself.

"I still think you'd look good in a dress," Caitlyn remarked. Vi shook her head.

"Never gonna happen," Vi said determinedly. Caitlyn shrugged.

"Your loss." Cait checked her watch. "Things should be starting soon. Let's-"

"Miss Caitlyn!" A man in a Piltover uniform barged into the room. Caitlyn frowned.

"What?"

"A burglary has been reported in the Freljord!" Caitlyn waited a beat.

"And?" The man took the police hat off of his head and held it nervously.

"It was committed by C, ma'am. I have a report here from agents in the field-"

"Give me that," Caitlyn said and snatched the report. She scanned it quickly.

"Damn it," Caitlyn muttered. "Damn it, damn it, damn it to hell. His pattern means he won't strike for another month."

She sank to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Vi gave the officer a death glare until he left, then squatted in front of Caitlyn.

"Cait..." She began, but her partner silenced her with a gesture.

"Quiet. I'm thinking." Caitlyn closed her eyes and settled into a meditative pose. "C must have heard. I put lines out everywhere. Thus, he either doesn't want the bait... Or he's not rushing into a heist. Which means he'll be here in the city to stake everything out and plan. We have to back off, look like we're not a part of this."

She stood up, Vi following, and declared, "We're visiting Piltover."

Vi thought a bit, then lit up.

"So I get my motorcycle?"

Caitlyn signed and gave her a tiny nod. Vi shrieked and did a little dance. Caitlyn started to walk out.

"Kawaii Vi," she threw over her shoulder.

"Shut up!"

* * *

><p>"Explain to me again why the hell we're walking to Piltover?" Ziggs complained, a bandage around his scalp.<p>

"Because Caitlyn said so, and if we fight her on this, she'll probably shoot us," Jayce answered. Ziggs glanced ahead to where Caitlyn marched and was forced to agree.

The entire company of Piltover was walking to Piltover, a journey of a solid day's march, when the method of teleporting was readily available. It was by Caitlyn's discretion and nobody felt like questioning her, knowing the kind of mood she was prone to these days.

Vi, marching behind Caitlyn, fell back to where Jayce was.

"Did you get to run those blood samples?" She asked.

"I had more important projects to work on. Why?" Vi shrugged.

"No reason."

They only stopped twice for ten minutes each, and when they reached the gates of Piltover even Vi was staggering. Caitlyn still marched as if the miles meant nothing.

They split off, excited to be home after a long absence. Vi and Caitlyn headed for the police station, ready for sleep.

Vi hit her bed and was asleep instantly. Caitlyn yawned and noticed Vi was still wearing her gauntlets.

She quietly hit the outer release and removed them, setting them besides Vi's bed. Caitlyn spent a moment hovering over Vi's sleeping form, then tossed a blanket on top of her and trudged to her own bed, slowly falling asleep.

The next morning, Vi accompanied Caitlyn to visit her parents. Once proud pioneers of their fields, Caitlyn's parents were now retired and lived the quiet life.

"Caitlyn! And Vi!" Caitlyn's mother exclaimed at the sight of them and hugged them both. "Come in! I just laid breakfast!"

Vi was wearing her fingerless gloves instead of her gauntlets for once, feeling it was more appropriate for the occasion. Caitlyn's mom had cooked a massive breakfast.

Vi tucked in with gusto as Caitlyn merely picked at her food and politely deflected inquires.

"So, anything exciting happen lately?" Caitlyn's mom asked.

"No," Caitlyn said.

"We got Jinx on a rampage and we stopped her and I punched an elephant," Vi put forward. Caitlyn shrugged.

"Nothing important anyways." Caitlyn's mother clucked disapprovingly.

"You never tell me anything," she said. "Vi always comes back with stories."

"Vi's better at telling the stories," Caitlyn deflected.

"I don't know about that," Vi began. "You tell the one about the necromancer and the Yordle prostitute pretty well."

Caitlyn looked embarrassed.

"That," she said, "is not conversation to be had over breakfast."

Vi grinned.

"I'm finished with my food. Want me to tell it?"

"Don't you have a motorcycle to attend to?" Caitlyn asked pointedly. Vi jumped up.

"Yes! Right! Going now! Bye mom! Bye dad! Thanks for breakfast!" The door slammed behind her.

"Motorcycle?" Caitlyn's mother asked skeptically. "Didn't she crash her last one?"

"Into a rhinoceros," Caitlyn said as she took a sip of tea. Her mother shook her head.

"Hasn't changed at all," she said. Caitlyn curled up in a comfortable chair with a book and her tea.

"She has," she said thoughtfully. "She really has."

The sun was setting and Vi whooped as she accelerated down the main street of Piltover. Her bike, glimmering in the rays of the dying sun, roared. Her gauntlets were in slots where the handlebars would normally be and it's dark pink finish gleamed.

She pulled up in front of Caitlyn's parents house and let the bike idle. Caitlyn came to the door, looking out.

"I see you finished," she remarked, walking out to inspect it. "But really, you painted it pink?"

"Duh," Vi said, pointing at her hair. Caitlyn merely blinked.

"Come on, get on," Vi said excitedly. "You need to see what this baby can do."

"I don't think so," Caitlyn declined. Vi held out a hand, looking into her eyes.

"Trust me." A moment of silence, and Caitlyn took her hand. Vi gently slung her on the back of the motorcycle, nestled between Vi and the backing in a distinctly Caitlyn-sized space. Vi felt Caitlyn's arms around her and revved the cycle.

"Hold on tight," she warned, and put full throttle on. The bike shot forward and up into a wheelie, spun around, and took off as if fired from a cannon.

Vi yelled, a sound of pure bliss. Wind whipped through her hair, Caitlyn was warm against her back, and she was flying down the roads so fast the buildings were a blur.

The fact that someone watched them from a tall building didn't matter at all.

* * *

><p><strong>P.S- At the time of this posting, Chapter five is being written and chapter four is drafted out. I will be reaching the end of my pre-established plotline soon, upon the conclusion of which I will take a short hiatus from Catch Me to begin work on a few other projects. I still have lots to do with Cait and Vi though, so worry not!<strong>


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